This post was originally published on this site.
By Douglas Wood
Rated R
Currently streaming on Amazon Prime, Google Play, Apple TV and YouTube
Note: This review is of the 1974 original, not the 1998 made-for-TV remake starring Edward James Olmos and Vincent D’ Onofrio, nor the 2009 feature that starred Denzel Washington and John Travolta.
When one thinks of the great 1970s crime films shot in New York City, certain classics leap to mind: Scorcese’s Taxi Driver to be sure, The French Connection with its iconic car chase, and Serpico and Dog Day Afternoon, both starring Al Pacino at his most intense. While the heist film, The Taking of Pelham One Two Three may not belong in that esteemed pantheon, lacking their depth and gravitas, you’d be hard-pressed to find a grittier, smarter, funnier and more viscerally entertaining portrait of the Big Apple in the era before its Disneyfication than this masterpiece of suspense.
Based on the bestselling novel by John Godey and directed by Joseph Sargent (known mainly for helming made-for-TV movies), Pelham moves as swiftly as its titular subway train, unlike many other seventies films whose pacing now feels glacial due to the ADHD editing style of today’s films, music videos and commercials. Sargent wastes no time setting up the thrilling high-concept premise: four criminals, armed with machine guns and dressed in horn-rimmed glasses, hats and fake mustaches, hijack a subway car. They demand a million dollars from the city, else they’ll kill one hostage per minute.
The leader and mastermind of the gang is “Mr. Blue,” a ruthless British former mercenary soldier, played by Robert Shaw in a meticulously sinister performance. His cohorts include “Mr. Green” (Martin Balsam), a fired motorman who knows the subway system inside and out, loose cannon “Mr. Grey” (Hector Elizondo), who was kicked out of the Mafia for being too erratic (!), and stuttering “Mr. Brown,” played by Earl Hindman. (If the color-coding sounds familiar, Quentin Tarantino, in an affectionate homage, did likewise with his criminals in Reservoir Dogs.)
Mr. Blue’s plan is ingenious and well-constructed, but he has the thankless task of negotiating with the city’s formidable Transit Authority lieutenant Zachary Garber (Matthau) in a performance as assured and believable as they come. It’s hard to imagine anyone other than Matthau, one of the least “Hollywood” of actors, in this role. His hangdog, seen-it-all face and sloped shoulders speak volumes, and he flawlessly delivers veteran screenwriter Peter Stone’s witty, profanity-laced dialogue like no other. Matthau’s sardonic comments land magnificently; he makes them sound organic rather than like sit-com zingers.
Pelham’s denizens are so quintessentially New York, they create a tone so edgy one shudders to think what the on-set shooting atmosphere must’ve been like. Is there anyone in the film who isn’t angry, cynical, disgusted, impatient or defeated? Miraculously, the ultimate effect is one of levity rather than annoyance as when the subway dispatcher complains, “Screw the goddamn passengers! What do they expect for their lousy thirty-five cents? To live forever?!”
Sargent is confident we’ll be riveted by the circumstances and refuses to add even a trace of sentimentality to the story. We care about the eighteen hostages as we would any group of innocent citizens in their situation, no more or less. We never get to know them beyond their appearance and an occasional line of dialogue, but it doesn’t really matter—they’re real, nevertheless, and we’re spared the clichéd performances of “characters in peril” we’ve seen in so many disaster films of this era.
The hostage drama alternates with a political one in which the wildly unpopular mayor (loud boos precede his appearance at a press conference) must decide whether or not to pay the large ransom. After much deliberating, the cowardly, flu-ridden mayor (a hilarious Lee Wallace who oddly resembles a future NY mayor, Ed Koch), consults his wife (a pre-Everybody Loves Raymond Doris Roberts), who offers some sage advice: “Look at it this way– if you ransom those hostages, you’ve got eighteen sure votes.” The mayor can’t argue with that.
At this point, the plot pivots to focus on how the robbers plan their impossible getaway. The narrative is inventive but remains credible, incorporating actual realities of New York’s subway system with a few fictional elements thrown in to ratchet up the tension. The kidnappers manage to get off the moving subway, leaving the passengers barreling towards God knows what in a white-knuckle sequence that becomes all the more frightening when someone screams the obvious, “There’s nobody driving the f**king train!”
David Shire’s propulsive score has become highly regarded by other top-notch composers in the industry. The jazz-funk main title sequence captures the era, setting and content all at once—we know what we’re in for and we can’t wait. Like everything else in the film, it’s satisfying and bold.
Pelham leaves one pleasantly exhausted, and its final frame, so well set up and so brilliantly executed, is pure movie magic. Script, direction, acting and comedy collide to create a brief moment in time on-screen that can only be described as perfection. Don’t google it– why ruin the surprise?
The post Reel Gems – Overlooked Films Currently Streaming: The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974) appeared first on The Corrales Comment.
